He also announced actions to protect Mexicans in the United States, ask the U.S. government for access to its investigation into the shooting, and possibly request the extradition of the shooter to face charges in Mexico.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced Sunday that six Mexican nationals were killed in the mass shooting at a shopping center. Seven others were wounded.

A total of 20 people were killed and more than two dozen injured; 21-year-old Patrick Crusius from Allen, Texas, stands accused of the massacre.

Earlier on Sunday, Ebrard, in a video on Twitter, announced that Mexico would take legal action against the United States over Saturday’s mass shooting.

“Mexico declares its profound rejection and complete condemnation of this barbaric act, in which innocent Mexican men and women lost their lives,” Ebrard said in the video.

Ebrard added that López Obrador had instructed him to make sure “the position, the indignation of Mexico, translates first in protecting the affected families,” and that there be “effective, prompt, expeditious and forceful legal actions for Mexico“ to protect Mexicans in the United States.

At a news conference following the Twitter announcement, Ebrard said that Mexico is outraged by the shooting and warned that “we will act with reason and adherence to the law, but firmly.”

The foreign affairs secretary announced several immediate actions the Mexican government is planning to take in response to the shooting.

Ebrard said his office and consulates are in contact with the affected families, and that they plan to accompany them and represent them in the investigation process. In addition, starting Monday, meetings will be held in Texas, California, Chicago, New York and Atlanta with the consuls of Mexico in the United States to expand the protocols for care and protection of Mexicans.

“We are also calling for a meeting of Spanish-speaking countries with communities in the United States,” Ebrard said, to safeguard “the culture and rights” of their citizens in the U.S.

He added that the Mexican government also plans to move forward with the corresponding legal actions against whoever is responsible for the shooting and will ask U.S. authorities for access to the investigation. They will also send a diplomatic note Monday to the U.S. government to respectfully, but firmly, ask that it take a clear and strong position on hate crimes.

“We are going to ask for access to see how this weapon was sold and how it came to their hands. And to know if the authorities knew about the potential of this individual,” Ebrard said.

The attorney general’s office, he said, will then analyze whether a complaint for terrorism against Mexicans in the United States will be filed. But they may also request to extradite the gunman.

“For Mexico, this individual is a terrorist,” he said.

]]>1164237Trump tells congresswomen: Go back where you came fromhttps://www.politico.eu/article/trump-tells-congresswomen-go-back-where-you-came-from/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS_Syndication
Mon, 15 Jul 2019 09:13:47 +0000https://www.politico.eu/?post_type=article&p=1152347U.S. President Donald Trump, jumping into the middle of a feud among House Democrats, called out progressive congresswomen in xenophobic terms on Sunday, saying, “Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”

While he didn’t mention them by name in his series of tweets, Trump was presumably targeting some of the caucus’ best-known freshman women of color: Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.).

“So interesting to see ‘Progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run,” the president wrote.

Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib and Pressley were all born in the United States. Omar, a Somalian refugee, immigrated to the U.S. with her family in the early 1990s.

The posts gave embattled House Democrats a common opponent to rally against — the president himself.

“Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came,” he added. “Then come back and show us how it is done. These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough. I’m sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements!”

Hours later, after dozens of assorted tweets and retweets, the president circled back to attack again.

“So sad to see the Democrats sticking up for people who speak so badly of our Country and who, in addition, hate Israel with a true and unbridled passion,” he wrote. “Whenever confronted, they call their adversaries, including Nancy Pelosi, ‘RACIST.’ Their disgusting language ….. and the many terrible things they say about the United States must not be allowed to go unchallenged.”

If the posts were intended to exploit simmering tensions within the Democratic Party after weeks of messy public infighting, however, they instead gave embattled House Democrats a common opponent to rally against — the president himself.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has been at odds with some of the most liberal members of her caucus, and other top Democrats fired back.

Mr. President, the country I “come from,” & the country we all swear to, is the United States.

But given how you’ve destroyed our border with inhumane camps, all at a benefit to you & the corps who profit off them, you are absolutely right about the corruption laid at your feet. https://t.co/HLKQCotR8T

Pelosi said the president’s “xenophobic comments” reaffirm his plan to make “America white again.” Representative Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), the No. 4 House Democrat, said the comments were “a racist tweet from a racist president.”

Other House Democrats also quickly weighed in, defending their colleagues, and Ocasio-Cortez turned the focus back on Trump’s immigration policies.

“Mr. President, the country I ‘come from,’ & the country we all swear to, is the United States,” she tweeted. “But given how you’ve destroyed our border with inhumane camps, all at a benefit to you & the corps who profit off them, you are absolutely right about the corruption laid at your feet.”

Tlaib responded to the president along similar lines: “Yo @realDonaldTrump, I am fighting corruption in OUR country. I do it every day when I hold your admin accountable as a U.S. Congresswoman. Detroit taught me how to fight for the communities you continue to degrade & attack. Keep talking, you’ll be out of the WH soon. #TickTock.”

Connecticut Representative Jim Himes took Trump to task for racism. “Unlike the Democratic Congresswomen @realDonaldTrump attacked today, I actually am a foreign-born Member of Congress,” said Himes, who was born in Peru where his father worked for the Ford Foundation. “But I’m a white male of European descent, so there’s no chance he’ll attack me. His tantrum has nothing to do with birthplace.“

Democratic presidential candidates weighed in almost uniformly and just about universally in condemnation of the tweets. Republican congressional leadership did not address the subject.

The early morning tweets also ignited frustrations inside the president’s reelection operation, where officials spent the last week relishing the dust-up between Pelosi and the four freshman progressives.

One person close to the campaign said Trump ruined weeks of messaging for his 2020 operation by uniting Democrats through their condemnation of his disparaging tweets. The infighting between party leaders and the four women — known as “the squad” — had “proved what we’ve been saying all along — that radical progressives are infiltrating the Democratic Party and pressuring their colleagues to embrace policies that are so far outside the mainstream no voter will entertain them,” this person said.

This person added: “We’ve been told to follow President Trump’s lead, but I don’t think you’re going to see that happen in this instance.”

A spokesperson for the Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s remarks are the denouement after an acrimonious week for House Democrats in which members publicly turned on one another over generational, ideological and racial divides. Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez traded barbs during the week, forcing other members of the caucus to take sides in what became a dayslong spat.

Trump, who last week defended Pelosi after Ocasio-Cortez said the speaker was singling out women of color for criticism, seemed determined to exacerbate those intraparty strains on Sunday morning. But the speaker stood with the members of her caucus.

“When @realDonaldTrump tells four American Congresswomen to go back to their countries, he reaffirms his plan to ‘Make America Great Again’ has always been about making America white again. Our diversity is our strength and our unity is our power,” she wrote on Twitter.

The president did succeed in one way that Democrats themselves haven’t been able to figure out — how to tamp down the simmering party feud and come back together for what is expected to be a chaotic two weeks in the House before a lengthy August recess.

Returning to the Capitol after the July 4th holiday, tensions were still simmering over an emergency border bill that nearly ripped the caucus apart. That divide was further exacerbated when Pelosi openly questioned the influence of “the squad,” prompting a series of fiery comments from the quartet, including Ocasio-Cortez.

Pelosi thenprivately chided progressives, including taking a shot at Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff, for tweeting criticism of their colleagues. Ocasio-Cortez then inflamed tensions by suggesting that Pelosi was purposefully singling out her and other women of color within the caucus to criticize.

Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks prompted a sharp rebuke from some members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who said it was actually her chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, who was targeting people of color within the caucus.

Weeks earlier, during the fight over humanitarian funding to address the border crisis, Chakrabarti compared moderate Democrats to segregationists in a now-deleted tweet. He has also publicly endorsed primary challengers to sitting Democratic incumbents, including members of the CBC.

On Friday, things seemed to have at least publicly calmed down as members left the Capitol for the weekend. But the spat was seemingly reignited on Friday night after a House Democratic Caucus Twitter account run by staffers for Representative Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) targeted Chakrabarti in alate-night tweet.

Who is this guy and why is he explicitly singling out a Native American woman of color?

The four members of the self-described squad — Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley, Tlaib and Omar — have been some of the most vocal critics of both Trump and their own party on the issue of immigration.

Tlaib recently gave emotional testimony and characterized the Trump administration’s immigration agenda as governed by “a dangerous ideology.” She recounted stories of the migrants she met in custody and the conditions of the facilities at the U.S.-Mexico border. She was also joined by Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley and Representative Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), who all toured border patrol facilities earlier this month.

Speaking on Saturday at Netroots Nation in Philadelphia, Omar responded to critics such as Trump and Fox News host Tucker Carlson who have assailed her as anti-American.

“I believe, as an immigrant, I probably love this country more than anyone that is naturally born,” the first-term congresswoman said.

Escobar took the president to task for the potential effect of his message.

“The racism and hatred cultivated and fueled by @realDonaldTrump only serves to further divide our country and puts the targets of his vile attacks in danger,” she wrote on Twitter. “And this kind of attack is why xenophobic followers of his think the dehumanization of vulnerable immigrants is ok.”

His tweets on Sunday were far from the first time Trump, a native of New York, treated political opponents as outsiders of uncertain loyalty. He cast doubts on the legality of Barack Obama’s presidency, supporting conspiracy theorists who claimed without justification that Obama was not born in the United States. During the 2016 campaign, he repeatedly denounced Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel (born in Indiana but of Mexican origin) and suggested Curiel could not rule fairly in a case involving Trump.

Pelosi said on Sunday that Trump should stop attacking members of Congress and work with them to instead fix immigration, beginning with putting an end to his administration’s deportation raids launched over the weekend.

“Rather than attack Members of Congress, he should work with us for humane immigration policy that reflects American values,” the speaker tweeted. “Stop the raids.”

Heather Caygle and Gabby Orr contributed reporting.

]]>1152347Clinton: ‘China, if you’re listening, why don’t you get Trump’s tax returns?’https://www.politico.eu/article/clinton-china-if-youre-listening-why-dont-you-get-trumps-tax-returns/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS_Syndication
Thu, 02 May 2019 06:03:24 +0000https://www.politico.eu/?post_type=article&p=1108862Hillary Clinton on Wednesday night suggested that if the Justice Department is going to let Russia get away with interfering in the 2016 presidential election, it might be OK if one of the 2020 Democratic candidates enlists China’s help.

“Imagine, Rachel, that you had one of the Democratic nominees for 2020 on your show, and that person said, you know, the only other adversary of ours who is anywhere near as good as the Russians is China,” Clinton told Maddow. “So why should Russia have all the fun? And since Russia is clearly backing Republicans, why don’t we ask China to back us?”

Her phrasing echoed a statement by Donald Trump about Hillary Clinton’s emails during the 2016 campaign. “Russia: If you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” he said at a July news conference in Florida. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”

Blasted for inviting a foreign power to interfere in an American election, Trump subsequently claimed he was not serious. However, the Mueller report indicated Russian hackers — clearly paying close attention to the U.S. campaign — did go after Clinton’s emails within hours of Trump’s remarks.

Clinton said the No. 1 thing she learned from reading special counsel Robert Mueller’s partially redacted report is that Russia conducted a “sweeping and systemic interference” in the 2016 election and has not been held accountable. And she worries there is reason to believe they will do it again.

Clinton also said the most important thing she learned was “the Russians were successful” in sowing “discord and divisiveness” in the country, and helping Donald Trump.

“Let’s have a great power contest, and let’s get the Chinese in on the side of somebody else,” she added. “Just saying, that shows how absurd the situation we find ourselves in.”

When asked about Attorney General William Barr’s testimony before the Senate judiciary committee earlier Wednesday, Clinton said that “calling for his resignation makes perfect sense.”

“I think that the Democrats on the committee did a good job today in exposing that he is the president’s defense lawyer,” Clinton said. “He is not the attorney general of the United States in the way that he has conducted himself.”

Clinton added that House Democrats “have every reason to” find Barr in contempt, but to “not let Barr be the big shiny object that diverts people’s attention from the two major findings of the Mueller report.”

In his testimony, Barr refused to answer whether the White House had ever directed him to initiate specific investigations, including whether Trump had asked former White House counsel Don McGahn to get the Justice Department to investigate Clinton and former FBI director James Comey. Clinton called the potential investigation a “diversion attack.”

“I’m living rent free inside of Donald Trump’s brain. It’s not a very nice place to be, I can tell you that,” she said. “So I don’t know what they’re talking about. I’ve been investigated repeatedly by the other side. And much to their dismay, but to my, you know, satisfaction, it’s been for naught.”

“But this is part of their whole technique to divert attention from what the real story is,” Clinton continued. “The real story is the Russians interfered in our election. And Trump committed obstruction of justice. That’s the real story.”